JFK Students Led ValleyHacks Hackathon

Photos by Gurjus Bhasin | JFK students come together to plan an eventful Hackathon.

What started as an idea between classmates turned into a day of innovation at the Newark Library on Jan. 10, as three local students hosted ValleyHacks, a student-run hackathon that drew more than 60 participants ranging from high schoolers to college students across the Bay Area.

Organized by Ridhima Kapoor (12), Gurjus Bhasin (12) and Vignesh Kalyanasundaram (12), the event lasted six continuous hours creating an environment where young minds came together to build, think, and collaborate on real-world problems with technology. An idea that germinated months ago into an event overflowed the library halls with laptops, notebooks, and animated discussions.

The space was filled with energy since the moment the event began. Students were forming teams, sketching ideas, and diving into planning their code with both excitement and determination. Many of them were at their first hackathon ever.

Participants were to choose from three challenging problem statements. Firstly, food shortage and food insecurity within the community. The second one focused on giving a voice to the youth. Participants were asked how technology can be leveraged to amplify student voices within the school or larger community. The third was around building assistive technology for people with specialized needs, encouraging them to think about accessibility and how to make an inclusive design. Eight expert judges from the technology industry volunteered their time to mentor teams and evaluate final presentations. They provided feedback on technical execution, usability, and real-world impact to help students further refine ideas beyond mere prototypes.

Several sponsors helped support ValleyHacks, including CodeCrafters VIP, Balsamiq, Nord services and credits, Lovable, Unibee, and Tpumps, making it possible to have approximately $4,500 in prizes, awarded in both cash and tech-related subscriptions. Organizers said the prizes were meant to encourage students to continue developing their projects after the event ended.

Looking ahead, leadership team member Bhasin said the team hopes to expand ValleyHacks beyond a single-day event.

“ValleyHacks brought students together for a few hours to work together on innovative solutions to modern problems,” Bhasin said. “We aim to build on this by setting even higher goals and partnering with local organizations to ensure young students across the Bay Area have the opportunity to share their voices, creating change on a larger scale.”

As participants packed up their laptops at the end of the day, many said they left feeling more confident and inspired to keep building. ValleyHacks, in the end, was less about competition and more about forming community and bringing ideas to life.